Struggles To Complete ISS Before Shuttle Program Termination
The Vision for Space Exploration, announced by President Bush in 2004, mandates that NASA must use the space shuttle to finish construction of the International Space Station by the end of 2010. By June 2006, due to ongoing concerns with the safety of the Shuttle in the wake of the Columbia disaster, only one flight had been performed. Per the Presidential mandate of the Vision for Space Exploration, Administrator Griffin mandated that 18 more Shuttle flights be performed in the remaining four and a half years.
Griffin approved the launch of the space shuttle Discovery for July 2006 to perform the second return-to-flight mission, overriding the NASA Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer, Bryan O'Connor. Although O'Connor said there were still unresolved concerns that foam insulation could break off of the external fuel tank and damage the orbiter, Griffin characterized the risk as acceptable, arguing that it would be better to test one change at a time. With that flight NASA was testing the removal of protuberance air-load ramps from cable and fuel line fittings on the exterior of the external fuel tank. This launch proved that the changes made to prevent shedding of foam at the air-load ramps were successful, allowing the Shuttle program to work towards completion of the ISS by the presidentially mandated year of 2010.
Read more about this topic: Michael D. Griffin
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